Friday, December 14, 2007

Victory!

The process of vetting and endorsing candidates is arduous and sometimes contentious, but when the GLBT community commits itself, works together, and, most importantly, when we speak out about our needs and our vision for the future of Houston, we win!

The Caucus was victorious in 16 of the 17 races in which we endorsed in the November general election and December runoff election, including the city council race for District D which encompasses the Montrose Area.Unofficial canvass reports from HarrisCounty had Adams winning Montrose by about 800 total votes, receiving 88% of the vote in those precincts.The Caucus orchestrated an unprecedented get out the vote campaign that paid off big time. The GLBT Caucus also endorsed Jolanda Jones, At-Large 5 and James Rodriguez, District I for Houston City Council. With the election of this new generation of progressive, equality focused city leaders, the Caucus looks forward to helping Houston City Council move forward in granting equal rights to GLBT citizens.

Now that all the votes have been counted and things have turned out so well, I think we should acknowledge how important this election was for our organization. We grew this fall. Our screening committee invested a lot of time investigating the HISD bond. We took a big risk, being the first the civic organization to endorse the proposal, but our activism made the difference. Just like in Wanda Adam's race, Montrose and the GLBT block vote provided, in large part, the margin of victory.

I think Caucus President Jennifer Rene Pool said it best: “We are not a special interest group; we are a general interest group.That is why we endorsed in the HISD, county, and state bond elections as well.Our focus is on cleaner air, better public schools, increasing public safety, and electing quality progressive candidates.We want a better Houston for our families, and that starts by electing the best candidates.”